This is an interesting one, the Flight Maia EQ-A steel string tenor uke. It’s strung GCEA, with a low G, with steel strings. It creates a hybrid between acoustic guitar and tenor ukulele, with a distinctly crisp, clear sound of steel strings, a guitar-like tone in a ukulele-sized package. I started selling ukuleles at the end of 2009 and since that time, a steel string tenor uke has been something that people have asked about a lot. My cousin even made one at one point - but until this Flight Maia, the desire of people to have one to experiment with has never been met with something that actually works.

The Flight Maia has a solid mango top, paired with laminate rosewood back and sides, with a modern look, gloss finish, scooped cutaway and abalone soundhole rosette. It has a 38mm nut width and, while acoustically it has plenty of volume, there’s a Double C1U active pickup fitted as well (with tone and volume controls tucked just inside the soundhole). It’s also supplied with nice, well padded gig bag.

And so, do you play it just like a ukulele? Well, yes, and a tiny bit no! Yes, your chord shapes work - you can pick, you can use a plectrum or your fingers and you can strum like you would a uke but… just like steel string solid body tenor ukes (which have been around for some time), steel strings take a little bit of adjustment potentially, in your technique. If you’re used to playing nylon or flurorocarbon ukulele strings you’ll find steel strings need a lighter touch than you’re used to. This, when you think about it, is actually a good thing! If you really grip and push hard, you can push the strings sharp. There’s no need to do this - unless you want to - for example, pushing softly and hard alternately to create a nice vibrato effect.

If your string height is high - then you can understand that you have to push down harder to make contact with the frets. With these instruments, the strings aren’t particularly high from the factory, but I have experimented with getting the string action just right to ensure you don’t have to push hard - allowing you to play with that lighter touch with ease. In time, as ever, the big box-shifting companies will get hold of these and doubtless, they’ll fight it out discounting and trying to be the cheapest supplier to get one from A to B. Particularly with these, I think that road would lead to disappointment. I have worked a lot with these to ensure I can get the set up spot on to allow you to get the cleanest sounds with the least amount of effort. It wasn’t bad from the box, but it could be improved - and that’s what I am here for!

At the bottom of the page you’ll find some optional extras that are common to every uke on my site. In this case, most don’t apply as you’ve got a low G fitted, and a good gig bag supplied. The jack input serves as a strap button as well. However, I can fit an extra strap button at the join between neck and body, should you wish.

For a video demo of the Flight Maia Steel String Tenor Electro Ukulele, click additional info below.